{"id":2463,"date":"2020-12-16T06:24:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T06:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=139795"},"modified":"2020-12-16T06:24:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T06:24:05","slug":"russia-backs-un-security-council-call-for-withdrawal-of-foreign-fighters-from-libya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/16\/russia-backs-un-security-council-call-for-withdrawal-of-foreign-fighters-from-libya\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Backs UN Security Council Call For Withdrawal Of Foreign Fighters From Libya"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img src=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/5d4ec712-6d7a-4f99-b790-321acf32b6fe_w1200_r1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"wsw\">\n<p>The UN Security Council reiterated a call for all foreign fighters to leave Libya in a unanimous statement on December 15 that included the backing of Russia, which has been accused of helping a military contractor send mercenaries into the country.<\/p>\n<p>All 15 Security Council members called for the withdrawal of \u201call foreign fighters and mercenaries\u201d from Libya in line with a UN-brokered cease-fire agreement reached on October 23.<\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, the departure of foreign forces and mercenaries is to take place within three months.<\/p>\n<p>Stephanie Williams, acting UN envoy to Libya, said earlier this month that about 20,000 foreign and mercenary forces were still in Libya.<\/p>\n<p>Moscow has been accused of supporting mercenaries fighting against the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. The GNA is vying for power against strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>Before the truce was signed in October, the European Union and Britain sanctioned a Kremlin-connected businessman who they said was providing support for the Vagner Group, a Russian military contractor force active in Libya.<\/p>\n<p>The Security Council released the statement calling for the withdrawal of mercenaries following a closed-door video conference on December 15. The statement also underlined the importance of an effective Libyan-led Cease-Fire Monitoring Mechanism.<\/p>\n<p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to submit options to the Security Council for the creation of the mechanism, which would be run by the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p>Libya has been wracked by violence since longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi was deposed by a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on December 15, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted Russia for continuing to &#8220;threaten Mediterranean stability&#8221; and sowing &#8220;chaos, conflict, and division&#8221; in Mediterranean countries, including Libya.<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"wsw__h6\">Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/2020\/12\/16\/russia-backs-un-security-council-call-for-withdrawal-of-foreign-fighters-from-libya\/\">Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UN Security Council reiterated a call for all foreign fighters to leave Libya in a unanimous statement on December 15 that included the backing of Russia, which\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2464,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463\/revisions\/2464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}